Thursday, January 14: Genesis 4- Life in our sin riddled world.

You cannot open an internet news site, listen to TV or radio news, or pick up a paper/news magazine without being assaulted by crime, violence, and killing. Mass shootings in the US are way too common. I confess that I am becoming numb to violent deaths. I wonder, what is our world coming to???

Then I open my Bible and the first story after the fall –the introduction of sin into the fabric of human life –and what do I read? Cain killing his brother Abel. And then before the chapter closes Lamech, Cain’s great grandson, boasts to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times” (23-24 bold mine).

Violence is escalating. Plus Lamech has two wives… while not expressly forbidden it seems to be against the blessing of marriage God gave in Genesis 2:24.

Life, viewed through one lens, is the story of sin, which can be understood as disregarding God’s best for life here on earth.

The violence I see in the news might be more violent than I see in Genesis 4, but Genesis 4 is only the beginning… and the seed of sinfulness is just germinating.

Thinking about the news and reading these Biblical accounts makes me realize how much I (we) need a change of heart. Somehow the selfish madness that would kill others or rob others to advance ourselves has to be bleached from us. And in the millennia since Cain killed Abel only God, giving us a new heart through faith in Jesus, can provide the bleaching we need. And this side of eternity even the new heart God gives the converted can and does lapse into deep dark sin…

This last thought makes me realize how much I need God for my continued life reconstruction with much forgiveness along the way.

O, Jesus, I am so sorry when I let You down, when I hurt others through my own selfish sin. Forgive me and change me so that I truly grow more like You! In Your name Jesus, I pray Amen.

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As you follow this blog you will be 'reading over my shoulder' as I live my personal Bible reading and daily devotions. Each day I read and reflect on one chapter of the Bible. If you continue with me, we will read through the entire Bible and parts of it more than once. I will post one reading a day Monday through Saturday, leaving Sunday's for worship with our local churches.

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